The hymn O To Be Like Thee becomes harder to sing the more you realise who you’re singing about.
I do enjoy hearing the bluster and bravado of well meaning, gung-ho followers who like Peter will impulsively say they will do anything for Jesus. I enjoy hearing it. I don’t question the sincerity, I don’t doubt the intention. I also have some insight, however, into just how costly that proclamation is.
Growing and being shaped into the image of the Son calls on us to do something amazing. It calls us to continually shed the skin of comfort to reveal that the life of glory is through the life of service. The way up is the way down. The path to certainty goes through great uncertainty. The life of wholeness inhabits the acknowledgement and embodiment of brokenness.
The closer you get, often the further away you feel you are. The more intimate the encounters, the greater the detection of difference you experience. The joy is seen in tears of frustration and fatigue. Sufficiency eeks its way through reaching the end of all dependence.
Seeing Christ in these experiences, treasuring Him above all else is not easy in the circumstances. It remains, however, the only way to overcome the failings of the life without Him. That slow and often painful working it out is what makes maturing in Christ so unique and so rewarding.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 